I'm looking to contact folks that remember or ran cars at Amarillo Dragway in the early 60's. Anyone remember Dickie Harrell, Eddie Hill, Bobby Langley? How about members of The Crusaders CC or The Texans CC and "Crusin' Polk Street? Have A Great Day!
I was there the day Eddie Hill made his return in the 80's with the previous "dago red" top fuel car. I wasn't a participant in the 60's, though.
Dickie Harrell's gone, but his daughter Valerie may be able to help. Check out http://www.dickharrell.com/ dan
Yep, I was test riding a recent Cushman Eagle restoration out by the dragstrip in about '83-'84 and saw a lone race-rig in the pits, so I pull in to check it out. Eddie and some of my old friends from Wichita Falls were on the way home from Cal with the DAGO RED and stopped in Amarillo to test and qualify for his T/F license. I asked Fat Garland "what the hell?" He told me Eddie said water is as hard as asphalt at 200mph and wanted a rollbar. Eddie had a blown fuel hydro record at over 212 mph and had flipped a few on his noggin'. Eddie was back at the 1320' with a passion. After the Dago Red along came sponsors like Super Shops and Pennzoil and as they say "the rest is history". For old history in Amarillo see if Carrol's Machine Shop is still in business (Carrol Caudle NHRA Record Holder). Yeah I'm Old School, Wichita Dragway Class Winner '70-'72.
You might see if you can get in touch with Brad Klein. He's from the Panhandle and was running his "Dream Chaser" Corvette in the 60's. I just had a thought (man, that HURT), you might also contact Don Hardy in Floydada. He's one of the good guys and easy to talk to. I guess my best memory of Amarillo Dragway was the "Coca Cola Cavelcade of Funny Cars" show. I believe that was in 1969 though.
Eddie an Ercie are still active at the Motorcycle shop, are building a really nice house/ shop combination and are still a "class act".
Carrol Caudle built some fantastic small blocks and was "The Guy" to beat for a long time.....Remember the TPTA? (Texas Panhandle Timing Assn.)
wow i didnt know this about eddie. i'm from that area orginally and have met him numerous times. In 1960, he became the first driver to heat his rear tires with a burnout and he was the first driver to use smaller front tires on a dragster in 1958.<SUP id=cite_ref-TimesRecordNews_2-6 class=reference>[3]</SUP> Hill introduced the aerodynamic front wing to dragsters and charcoal masks for driver safety.<SUP id=cite_ref-TimesRecordsNewsBiography_9-2 class=reference>[10]</SUP>
My granddad and his car club (The Road Knights) out of Hereford, used to frequent Amarillo Dragway back in the 60s. One of the members, Rich Clark, had an old roadster that they ran there. Unfortunately, both my granddad and my father have passed away in the last 18 months, so some history will be lost with them. I'm not sure, but I think that my aunts have some pictures that granddad took at the dragway. I know that somewhere there are some old home movies from the 60s that were filmed at the track. As soon as I can get granddad's '34 Ford pickup moved out to the shop at mom's place (my brother and I inherited it, that's why I'm here !) I will ask my aunts about the pictures and home movies. I know a couple of guys that are still around that belonged to the car club, and if I get a chance, I'll talk to them about the dragway, or even better, signing up for the HAMB....
I was there back in the late 50's when Eddie Hill was just starting and Jack Moss was running his 2 engine digger "2 Much" 1 was running a chopped/channeled A coupe with SBC, later a radical custom 53 Studebaker and a member of the Barrons Racing Team ------those were the good ole days!!! Bondo Bill Hissownself
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